I can't believe I'm finally continuing this series at long last. To clarify, I've already reviewed all of Lasky's Wolves of the Beyond, as well as read the first book in this series (but not reviewed it yet), and neither sold me on Lasky as a xenofiction writer in particular. I just had trouble being engaged in the world set up. So maybe this book changes things? Spoilers ahead.
The band continues on their long and arduous journey to the great Ga'Hoole Tree, and when they finally arrive they start training to become Guardians themselves. However, training can be difficult and exhausting, and Soren finds he's in some of the least-beloved chaws (a type of rank/class).
Honestly, I think this book may have been the one to make me slowly fall in love with this world. At long last, after seven books I've read set in it. About time, but also I'm super glad. It still is far from one of my favorite xenofictions, but I think this one was by far the best by Lasky I've read so far and I finally found myself somewhat immersed in the world of the Guardians, something I didn't quite feel while reading book one or Wolves of the Beyond. Maybe it's that things seem a bit more richly described here? I can't quite put my finger on it, but thoroughly enjoyed this book and its world-building, especially once we got to Ga'Hoole and started to learn about the society of the Guardians.
I also found myself being quite fond of the characters in this book. Okay, still not a lot of them, but I genuinely love Soren, Mrs. P and Otulissa in this book. They're not perfect and that makes them very likable. A major complaint I had with Wolves of the Beyond was that Faolan was far too perfect of a protagonist for him to be interesting, with him being pretty much a born destined hero and good guy with no interesting arcs or flaws to speak of. Soren is definitely a good guy, but he's flawed. I do love how Mrs. P. is all about proper manners but also just a genuine good guy and currently the only parental-eque figure Soren and later Eglentine have (as well as the rest of the band, by extension). And Otulissa is a very flawed owl who loves to talk endlessly and go on about her lineage, but I honestly found her quite enjoyable because of this. The other characters are also good, of course, but these three stood out by now to me.
If there's one thing I didn't wholly vibe with, it's the ending, where Soren and his friends decide that they're going to rescue Ezylryb, when pretty much up until the ending of the book none of them really him for most of the book. So it feels a bit unearned of them to go on a rescue mission when they don't like this owl that much until later on in the book. Even if there were some brief moments of them warming up to him, it just felt a little bit too sparse for me to get the impression they genuinely care enough about him to go on a rescue mission where they endanger their own lives. Not a huge flaw and there's definitely moments where they do seem to care for him, but it's just not enough for the ending to feel earned if you ask me. A few more moments or the characters warming up to him earlier could've solved this minor issue.
And two more flaws: one, the gross-out jokes. Sorry, I really just think this is unnecessary and takes away from the epic tone the story seems to be going for. I don't need to hear about bird shit this amount, Lasky, please.
Second: early on in the book the owlets meet a nameless dying Blacksmith who does eventually end up passing away. Later on, Soren and Gylfie are eavesdropping on the Ga'Hoole owls, and they find out that the Blacksmith was actually aligned with the Guardians, however even when the Guardians are talking about him they just...do not namedrop him and keep calling him "rogue smith" or "Barred Owl". Which just really feels like Lasky was too lazy to come up with a name for him. Granted, he's a minor character, and the band wouldn't know his name while coming across him because he didn't tell them. But the Guardians who are his allies should know? I don't know, it just kind of feels lazy and weird when all other characters have names that this one has none mentioned even by the people who knew him.
But overall this was still a well-written and immersive xenofiction book. I think I can finally see why people love these books so much. I do hope that future installments of Guardians only continue to improve, and that they don't go the Wolves of the Beyond route (aka downhill).
Note: I haven't reviewed book one of this series at this point yet, but I will eventually.
Rating: 3.5/5
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